


I'm With You

by junebugrebellion



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, PTSD, Why do I do this to myself, hardly more than a drabble really, implied Clintasha, misc. mission fic, natasha makes me upset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-15
Updated: 2015-03-15
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:37:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3544682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junebugrebellion/pseuds/junebugrebellion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SHIELD often forgets how fragile, how explosive, how catatonic its agents are. They train for the field, not for what comes after. Agents wade into war, guns blazing, but they are afraid of the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm With You

SHIELD often forgets how fragile, how explosive, how catatonic its agents are. They train for the field, not for what comes after. Agents wade into war, guns blazing, but they are afraid of the dark. 

SHIELD is excellent at using its resources.

Natasha Romanoff knows St. Petersburg like the back of her hand. Natasha Romanoff is the best assassin in the world. Natasha Romanoff works well with Clint Barton.

So, they get on a plane and go to Russia and execute the mission perfectly. They sit on opposite rooftops, comms in their ears, but their silence is typical and comfortable. She takes the shot, and Clint doesn't need to see to know that the target is dead. 

"I knew him," whispers Natasha, "when I was younger."

Clint can't find words, knows she wouldn't want them anyway. He says nothing when she takes his hand in hers, nearly breaking the skin with her nails. 

That night, he wakes to her straddling him and pulling back for a punch. He catches her fist, but she's ahead of him, she's nailing him in the throat. 

"Natasha!" he chokes as she hits him again and again and again. "It's me! It's Clint!"

She pauses for half a second before gritting her teeth and slamming his head into the headboard. He curses under his breath. "Please, Tasha, please,  _please_."

And then she collapses into him. It's without grace. She simply goes limp and falls. She's dead weight on his chest, as if she simply ran out of battery. After a moment, she says, "Clint?"

The breath leaves his lungs, and she sags further. "Yeah, yeah, you with me?" It's their phrase, their fail-safe, their go-to for panic attacks and anything else terrible and unseen.

"I'm with you," she murmurs, voice strained. She starts to push herself up, but he can see the terror in her eyes, so he pulls her back.

"C'mere, Tash. You're alright."

"I hit you." She sounds as if she shot him, not punched him. 

"I get hit a lot, it's okay."

"I thought you were..."

"It's alright. You're okay. You're safe." He can feel her skin trembling as her fingers find his shoulders.

"Clint," she whispers, fingers curling against his chest. "Oh, Clint."

"It's okay, Natasha. I'm right here. I'm not leaving you." His hands move through her hair, curls catching on his fingers. "I'm gonna stay right here until you don't need me."

"I'll always need you."

Part of him hears it as her being too scared to make sense of herself, part of him thinks it's too late for it to mean anything. But in the back of his mind, he understands that it's a confession, that it's a prayer. 

"I need you too, Tash. Always will." 

**Author's Note:**

> this is really short and something I thought of while writing thirty other fics. oops.  
> thanks for reading! kudos and comments appreciated!  
> (was originally titled "why")


End file.
